Donald E. Westlake

Payback

With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless reservoir of bitterness later, Porter's partners and the crooked cops on his tail learn how bad payback can be.

Release Date:1999-02-05

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:1824

Stepfather 2

"Stepfather" Jerry Blake escapes an insane asylum and winds up in another town, this time impersonating a marriage counselor. With a future wife and new stepson who love him, Blake eliminates anyone who stands in his way to building the perfect family.

Release Date:1989-11-03

Department:Writing

Job:Characters

Vote Count:101

Play Dirty

Based on the professional thief character Parker, created by Donald E. Westlake. Premise TBA.

Department:Writing

Job:Characters

The Actor

Paul Cole finds himself stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can't be trusted, and it's unclear which of his identities is real.

Release Date:2025-03-14

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Parker

A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.

Release Date:2013-01-23

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:3061

The Stepfather

Michael Harding returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David. As the two men get to know each other, Michael becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand. Is he really the man of her dreams or could David be hiding a dark side?

Release Date:2009-10-16

Department:Writing

Job:Story

Vote Count:900

Ripley Under Ground

After his friend, a hot young artist, is killed, a resourceful American man living in London covers up the crime and tries to keep the friend's name alive in order to exploit his legacy and reap millions in the process.

Release Date:2005-11-06

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:56

The Ax

A chemist loses his job to outsourcing. Two years later and still jobless, he hits on a solution: to genuinely eliminate his competition.

Release Date:2005-03-02

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:186

Ordo

Ordo Tupikos, a french sailor with greek origins, discover that his first wife, Estelle, with whom he had remained married a few months only 16 years earlier, is now a famous movie star called Louise Sandoli. But, more than her name, everything about Louise seems to have changed. Ordo decides to meet Estelle again, after all these years, to know what it's all about...

Release Date:2004-09-15

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:8

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Thief Kevin Caffery attempts to rob from the home of rich businessman Max Fairbanks. But Fairbanks catches him and steals his cherished ring that his girlfriend gave him. Caffery is then bent on revenge and getting his ring back with the help of his partners.

Release Date:2001-05-31

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:301

A Slight Case of Murder

In the midst of a spat, film critic Terry Thorpe accidentally kills his lover. Though Thorpe covers his tracks, he raises the suspicions of a private investigator, who then tries to blackmail him. Thorpe also falls under the watchful eye of Detective Fred Stapelli, a cop who is intent on becoming a screenwriter. Before long, Thorpe's girlfriend, Kit, and Stapelli's wife, Patricia, are roped into the case.

Release Date:1999-09-19

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:21

Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane

Documentary about the life and work of mystery writer Mickey Spillane.

Release Date:1998-01-01

Character:Self

Vote Count:1

The Gods Must Be Daring

A priceless statuette "Dancing God" is transfered from Africa to France. Scoundrels of all stripes are dreaming of steeling it. The most clever of them are trying to replace the original with the copy. Chases, adventures, breathtaking stunts, shootouts - life is not worth a penny, when the priceless treasure is on stake.

Release Date:1997-04-30

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:6

Two Much

Art Dodge is a painter-turned-gallerist drowning in debt. He gets in over his head when a con job leads to an engagement with a rich divorcee. He gets in deeper when he falls for her sister, and invents a twin brother to be her beau; and deeper still when his fiancée's ex-husband comes looking for revenge.

Release Date:1995-12-01

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:154

Fallen Angels

A neo-noir anthology television series, set in somber Los Angeles right after World War II and before the election of American President John F. Kennedy. The episodes, although filmed in color, mimicked what had been done by Hollywood filmmakers during the film noir era of the 1940s and 1950s in terms of tone, look, and story content.

Release Date:1993-08-01

Department:Writing

Job:Teleplay

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:10

Stepfather 3

After escaping a Puget Sound institution, "Stepfather" Gene Clifford alters his appearance with plastic surgery and takes on another new identity: Keith Grant. Moving to Deer View, California, Keith falls for a divorced school principal, arousing the suspicions of her wheelchair-bound, computer-savvy son.

Release Date:1992-06-04

Department:Writing

Job:Characters

Vote Count:42

The Grifters

A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Release Date:1990-08-08

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:399

Why Me?

A jewel thief steals a sacred ruby which sets off a chase by the police, the Turkish government, nutty American terrorists, and the CIA.

Release Date:1990-02-08

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:23

Prisoners of Gravity

Prisoners of Gravity was a Canadian public broadcasting television news magazine program that explored speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books — and its relation to various thematic and social issues. Produced by TVOntario, the show was the brainchild of former comic retail manager Mark Askwith and writer Daniel Richler, and was hosted by Rick Green. The series aired 139 episodes over 5 seasons from 1989 to 1994.

Release Date:1989-08-21

Character:Self

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:6

Fatal Confession: A Father Dowling Mystery

Frank Dowling has to solve the mystery of a young man who is obsessed with finding his natural parents.

Release Date:1987-11-30

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

The Stepfather

A seemingly mild mannered man -- who has just murdered his entire family -- quickly adopts a new identity and leaves town. After building a new relationship with a widow and her teenage daughter, he struggles to hide his true identity and maintain a grip on reality.

Release Date:1987-01-23

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:333

The Twin

Matthias Duval is in love, but he can't choose between the two twin sisters Betty and Liz Kerner. To pick up the two sisters, he invents his own twin brother and will play both characters.

Release Date:1984-10-10

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:61

Slayground

Stone (Peter Coyote) hits an armored truck without his usual driver. The ensuing getaway leads to the death of an innocent. The payback is swift and brutal. The wronged father hires a twisted, sociopathic assassin to avenge his loss. One by one the offenders are punished through grisly executions. Stone uses his wits to find a reclusive friend Terry (Mel Smith) just in time for a psychedelic funhouse showdown with his stalker.

Release Date:1983-12-01

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:7

Jimmy the Kid

Gang of bumbling crooks kidnap a bratty little kid, find out they got more than they bargained for.

Release Date:1982-11-12

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:1

Hot Stuff

When a police department's burglary task force is facing the possibility of being shut down because of their low conviction rate decides to try a new approach to apprehending their targets. They take over a pawn shop where thieves go to unload their merchandise. They record them as they bring stuff in and get them to tell them where they got it. Eventually they're threatened by the mob.

Release Date:1979-08-10

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:16

Express to Terror

A gambling addict, mobsters, movie producers and others are plagued with murder while aboard a high-speed rail train. This pilot episode for the short-lived "Supertrain" series (which lasted just 9 episodes) was released to home video as a independent feature.

Release Date:1979-02-07

Department:Writing

Job:Story

Supertrain

Supertrain is an American television drama/adventure series that ran on NBC from February 7 to May 5, 1979. Nine episodes were made, including a 2-hour pilot episode.

Release Date:1979-02-07

Department:Creator

Job:Creator

Vote Count:3

Come ti rapisco il pupo

Release Date:1976-05-21

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:2

The Bank Shot

A bank temporarily housed in a mobile home while a new building is built, looks like an easy target to break into. On the other hand, why not steal the whole bank, and rob it in a safer location.

Release Date:1974-07-31

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:30

The Outfit

A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.

Release Date:1973-10-19

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:77

Cops and Robbers

Two disillusioned New York policemen plan a $10 million robbery to fuel their low pensions, only to run into one debacle after another in the process.

Release Date:1973-08-15

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:16

The Hot Rock

Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...

Release Date:1972-01-26

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:109

The Split

A group of thieves attempt a daring robbery of a football stadium.

Release Date:1968-11-04

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:29

Pillaged

Over the course of one night, a gang of twelve criminals carry out a commando-like raid on a small town.

Release Date:1967-11-15

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:6

Point Blank

After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.

Release Date:1967-08-30

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:383

The Busy Body

Sid Caesar is a bumbling gopher to a mob boss who must recover a fortune in cash stowed in the suit of a corpse.

Release Date:1967-03-12

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:7

Made in U.S.A

Paula Nelson goes to Atlantic City to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, but finds him dead and decides to investigate his death. In her hotel room, she meets Typhus, whom she ends up knocking out. His corpse is later found in the apartment of David Goodis, a writer. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many gangsters.

Release Date:1967-01-27

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:99

Le commissaire mène l’enquête

Release Date:1965-07-28

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Una cara para escapar

Release Date:1963-01-01

Department:Writing

Job:Novel

Vote Count:2

No Other Choice

After being unemployed for several years, a man devises a unique plan to secure a new job: eliminate his competition.

Department:Writing

Job:Novel